Surround Yourself With the Right People

Surround Yourself With the Right People

At this time of year especially, with Christmas fast approaching and things getting steadily busier, I’m reminded of how important it is to surround yourself with the right people.

What do I mean by this? Well, of course, I mean this in the context of business but I also mean it in the context of life, which if you happen to own your own business often intertwine much more closely than you may like to admit.

There’s an old saying that says:

“Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”

You might have heard it back when you were in primary or high school and making those crucial friend choices that would see you through your years of learning, but honestly, I think the phrase is just as relevant now.

The point is that in most cases you start to become more like the people who you spend time with. Their opinions are likely to influence your opinions, their attitudes and outlooks may change your attitudes and outlooks, and their dreams and ambitions could impact your dreams and ambitions.

But if we’re not on the playground anymore does this really matter?

Well, yeah it does. It matters now more than ever before because we’re not just on the playground anymore, we’re running businesses, and raising families, and leading our community and in order to do those things to the best of our ability, we need to surround ourselves with the right people.

Passion is contagious but so is apathy.

If you want to be successful in business, then it is so important that you surround yourself with passionate people who see solutions where others see problems. And this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be passionate about the same things as you.

In my job, I have the pleasure of working with businesses all around the country, in so many different sectors, and I’ve been lucky enough to make some lifelong friends out of my business interactions. Most of these people reach out to me because they have very little interest in marketing and communications but what they are interested in is seeing their business grow and succeed, and that’s something we all have in common.

The point isn’t to surround yourself with people who are passionate about the same thing as you (although having a few like-minded colleagues doesn’t hurt), the point is to surround yourself with people who have ambition, a dream or goal that they are passionately going after.

Setting up the right network.

It’s about setting up the right network for yourself so that when trouble does come your way, and it will, you have a group of tough, ‘don’t take no for an answer’ kind of people who can help you see past the problem to a solution. The kind of people who when you’re thinking about throwing in the towel and walking away will grab you by the ear and remind you why you started this all in the first place.

These people won’t always come in the form of other business owners; sometimes it will be your own employees who you hired specifically because they share your dream. Sometimes it’ll be your spouse or partner, or an old friend, or a family member.

Like I said, surrounding yourself with the right sort of people in your day to day life is just as important as who you surround yourself with in business. In life, you need people you can lean on through the hard times, but they also need to be people who know when to kick you up the bum and tell you to get back out there.

Tracy Sheen is a born communicator. Her first article was published aged 5 and she was speaking on stage at the Opera House age 6. As a teenager, she was reporting for the school magazine and in her 20s she hosted her own radio show.
Tracy began Podcasting 6 years ago, she created the global breakout “Not Another Business Show” and she’s been featured as a guest on numerous other podcasts.
Tracy regularly commentates on the changing face of communications, is a sought after freelance writer for business publications and an engaging key note speaker.